Strapping dispenser



1967 w. D. HAMLIN ETAL 3,337,153

STRAPPING DISPENSER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 24, 1966 INVENTORS. WAY/V5 0. HAML/lV SEYMOUR E. HE'YMA/V/V 1967 w. D. HAMLIN ETAL 3,337,153

STRAPPING DISPENSER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 24, 1966 INVENTORS: WAY/V5 D. HA ML/IV SEYMOUR E. HEY/WA A/N United States Patent 3,337,153 STRAPPING DISPENSER Wayne D. Hamlin, Niles, and Seymour E. Heymann,

Winnetka, lll., assignors to Signode Corporation, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 24, 1966, Ser. No. 537,081 6 Claims. (Cl. 24275.43)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A strapping dispenser of the reel type in which overrunning of the reel due to momentum when strap-feeding ceases is prevented by an automatic braking action. The reel is carried on a frame which rocks on the supporting surface from a position of release when strapfeeding takes place and a position wherein the reel is snubbed when strap-feeding is terminated. A bail, pivoted to the frame, constitutes a handle whereby the frame may be inverted and the frame caused to be tractionally supported by the reel which then rolls on the supporting surface for dispenser-transporting purposes.

The improved strapping dispenser comprising the present invention has been designed for use primarily in connection with the dispensing of continuous plastic strapping at a strapping station where it is caused to encircle an object in the form of a bundle, stack or the like to produce a strap which is then tensioned about the object by a manual or power operated strapping tool preparatory to adjoining the strap ends and severing the feed end of the strap to free the strapped object from the dispenser.

The present strapping dispenser is essentially of the reel type, which is to say that the coil of strapping which is wound in involute fashion upon a cylindrical core is mounted upon a freely rotatable carrier which, itself is axle-mounted, the carrier and coil, in effect, constituting a rotatable spool from which the strapping is pulled in tangential fashion as required, thus causing spool rotation during the actual strapping feeding operation. Dispensers of this general character, particularly large diameter or otherwise massive dispensers, have a tendency to overrun after the pulling force on the strapping has been terminated.

The present invention is designed to overcome the above-noted limitation that is attendant upon the construction and use of conventional strapping dispensers and, toward this end, the invention contemplates the provision of a supporting frame for the coil-supporting spool, the frame and spool, when considered as a unit, possessing an appreciable degree of unstable'equilibrium so that there is a tendency for the frame to tilt in one direction, thus bringing the peripheries of the spool flanges into frictional contact with a reaction braking surface which, in the broadest aspect of the invention, may be the floor or other foundation surface but which, according to a preferred embodiment, is in the form of a pair of small brake pads or shoes carried by the frame. The direction of pulling force resulting from pulling the strapping from the spool is such as to rock the frame in a direction to raise the spool bodily as a unit from the brake pads against the action of gravity and lend stable equilibrium to the frame during such time as the pulling force remains prevalent. As soon as the pulling force is terminated, the frame again loses its stable equilibrium and falls, so to speak, to its tilted condition wherein the periphery of the spool again frictionally engages the brake pads and prevents overrunning of the spool.

An additional aspect of the invention resides in the portability of the dispenser, novel manual means being provided whereby the dispenser may conveniently and tractionally be transported from one place to another. Accordingly, the aforementioned brake pads are carried. on a base plate which is pivoted at one end to the spoolsupporting frame near the lower end thereof and which normally rests upon the floor or other supporting surface. A handle on the base plate enables the same to be lifted from the supporting surface so as to completely unseat the frame which then becomes the supported element of the spool-frame combination and functions as a bail by means of which the spool may be tractionally rolled on the supporting surface from one location to another.

In the accompanying two sheets of drawings forming a part of this specification, one illustrative embodiment of the invention has been shown.

In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a strapping dispenser embodying the principles of the present invention and showing the same in its normal position of rest;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view similar to FIG. 1, showing the dispenser in operation and with the strapping under tension during feeding thereof;

FIG. 3 is an end elevational view of the structure shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view similar to FIGS. 1 and 2, showing the dispenser undergoing transportation; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the dispenser framework.

Referring now to the drawings in detail and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, a strapping dispenser embodying the present invention has been designated in its entirety at 10 and it is comprised of three principal parts or assemblies, namely a frame 12, a base plate 14, and a coil-supporting reel or spool assembly 16.

As clearly shown in FIG. 5, the frame 12 is in the form of a single length of tube stock which is bent to a generally U-shaped configuration to provide a short leg 18, a long leg 20 and an interconnecting bight portion 22. The leg 18 is of L-shape configuration and it includes a substantially horizontally extending section 24 and a substantially vertically extending section 26, the two sections being connected together on an arcuate bias as indicated at 28. The long leg 20 is likewise generally of L-shape configuration and includes a short leg 30 and a long leg 32, the two legs being connected together on an arcuate bias as indicated at 34. The legs 24 and 30 are substantially coplanar, as are the legs 26 and 32. The leg 32 extends upwardly beyond the level of the upper end of the leg 26 and has its extreme upper end region turned laterally to provide a horizontal guide arm 36, the function of which will be made clear presently.

The upper end portion of the vertical section 26 is flattened as indicated at 40 (see also FIG. 5) and the medial region of the arm 32 is similarly flattened as at 42, the two flattened regions being provided with aligned holes 44 and 46 therethrough for reception of the ends of a spool-supporting axle 50 (FIG. 3) in the form of a bolt. The spool assembly 16 is comprised of two circular disks 52 and 54 which are similar in configuration and each of which is recessed as at 56 to provide a cylindrical coil-supporting shoulder 58 and a central hub 59. The disk 52 is provided with an integral bearing sleeve 60 through which the bolt 50 passes. The sleeve passes completely through the disk 54 and the distal end thereof is threaded for reception of a wing nut 62 by means of which the two disks may be drawn bodily toward each other to clamp a coil of strapping such as the coil C therebetween. A thumb nut 63 is received on the bolt 50 and serves to retain the latter in position within the frame 12.

In the interests of clarity, the coil C, which is of conventional construction, has been shown in dotted lines in FIGS. 3 and 4. This coil includes a tubular cylindrical core 64 of paperboard or other suitable material and upon which there is wound in involute fashion a length of strapping material S. The strapping may be wound in the form of a single spiral, in which case the length of the core C will be only slightly greater than the width of the strapping, or it may be wound in mill fashion so that it alternately progresses from one end of the core to the other, the width of the core in such an instance being a multiple of the width of the strapping. In either event, the manner in which the present dispenser functions will not be appreciably altered.

From the above description it will be apparent that since the disk 54 is freely slidable on the bearing sleeve 60 in an axial direction, tightening of the wing nut 62 will serve to securely clamp the coil C between the two disks 52 and 54. The disks, together with the cylindrical core 64- thus, in effect, provides a spool-like structure in which the core 64 constitutes the spool body while the peripheral regions of the disks constitute the spool flanges.

The base plate 14 is in the form of a rectangular traylike structure, one end of which is pivoted by means of pins 7% to the legs 18 and 20 of the frame 12 at regions which fall within the arcuate portions 28 and 34 and which are slightly offset upwardly from the common plane of the leg sections 2 and 30. The frame 12 is adapted to be supported on the floor or other planar supporting surface so that it is capable of slight rocking movement in a fore and aft direction between the normal position in which it is shown in FIG. 1 and the strap-feeding position in which it is shown in FIG. 2. This rocking of the frame is made possible by reason of the arcuate portions 28 and 34 on which the frame as a whole rests. Normally, the coil-loaded frame 12 possesses a slight degree of unstable equilibrium so that it will not maintain a balance with the leg sections 24 and 30 resting squarely on the foundation or supporting surface. Although the frame, when devoid of a coil such as the coil C, may possess stability in the position in which it is shown in FIG. 2, when the dispenser is loaded with a coil of strapping the center of gravity of the coil is offset from the common vertical plane of the tangential lines of contact between the arcuate portions 28 and 34 and the floor so that the dispenser as a whole is unstable and tends to rock in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 1, the arcuate portions 28 and 34 functioning as rocker elements or runners for the frame. The base plate 14 has mounted thereon a pair of brake pads 72 which are removed from the pivot pins 70 a slight distance and which are designed for engagement with the extreme peripheries of the disks 52 and 54, i.e. the spool flanges, to thus limit the extent of tilting or rocking movement of which the frame 12 is capable in an aft direction. As shown in FIG. 1, when the dispenser is loaded with a coil C, the peripheries of the disks bear downwardly against the brake pads 72 while the reaction thrust of the coil against these pads is transmitted to the extreme distal edge of the base plate 14 and the edge then rests upon the floor or other foundation surface. In order to assimilate any bending forces which may be applied to the base plate 14 by reason of the downward thrust of the coil, the side edges of the base plate are turned upwardly to provide reinforcing side flanges '74.

The brake pads 72 may be formed of any suitable f-riction material as for example any of numerous commercially available asbestos-containing brake lining materials, or they may be formed of leather or a suitable elastomeric substance. The pads 72 may be adhered to the base plate 14 in any suitable manner such as by a bonding agent or by vulcanization.

A hand hole '76 is formed in the base plate 14 near the distal edge thereof to the end that the dispenser as a whole may be transpo1ted from one place to another in a manner that will be describe-d presently.

In order to guide the strapping S from the coil C during feeding thereof at the scene of strapping operations, the laterally turned portion or guide arm 36 of the frame leg 20 terminates in a medial plane between the vertical planes of the legs 18 and 20 and the end of the guide arm is formed with a strap-receiving slot 80, the outer end of which is adapted to be closed by a steel wedge 82. The effective depth of the slot is somewhat greater than the width of the widest strapping to be encountered so that the strapping may pass freely through the slot during strap feeding operations.

In the operation of the dispenser 10 for strap dispensing purposes, initial loading operations may be accomplished by removal of the nut and bolt assembly 63, 50 and then positioning a coil of strapping between the two disks 52 and 54 and centering the same on the annular shoulders 58, after which the bolt 50 may be threaded through the holes 44 and 46 and the two hubs 59 and the nut 63 reapplied and tightened to draw the two disks hard against the sides of the coil. The free end of the strapping S is then threaded through the slot 80 in the guide arm and conducted to the strapping machine in the usual manner.

Prior to actual strap-feeding operations, the peripheries of the two disks 52 and 54 will bear against the brake pads 72 and the dispenser will assume the position in which it is shown in FIG. 1 wherein, as previously described, stability of the frame 12 is attained by reason of the rigid triangulation which exists between the points of rocking support for the frame, the rotational axis of the coil C, and the regions of contact between the peripheries of the disks 52 and 54 and the brake pads 72. As soon as tension is applied to the free end region of the strapping as shown in FIG. 2, the inertia of the entire mass of the coil C causes the arcuate portions 28 and 34- of the frame 12 to rock upon the floor or other supporting surface in a forward direction, thus raising the disks 52 and 54 out of contact with the brake pads and freeing the spool assembly 16 for rotation under the pulling force of the strapping S. This rocking of the frame 12 may be enhanced to a certain extent by the relatively long moment arm offered by the long leg 20 of the frame 12 and the small degree of frictional retardation which is offered to the strapping as it passes through the slot 80. In any event, the dispenser will remain in the position in which it is shown in FIG. 2 as long as there is some tension in the portion of the strapping S leading thereto from the strapping location. Upon termination of the strapping operation and the consequent existence of slack in the strapping leading to the dispenser, the degree of unstable equilibrium which prevails in the frame 12, as previously described, will restore the frame to the position wherein it is shown in FIG. 2 and such restoration of the frame is immediate so that the braking action offered to the disks 52 and 54 by the brake pads 72 will prevent strapping overtravel.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the pivoted base plate 14 affords a novel means whereby the dispenser as a whole, together with its contained coil C of strapping, may be conveniently transported from one location to another by a tractional rolling action, utilizing the two disks 52 and 54 as supporting traction wheels for this purpose. Accordingly, when it is desired to so transport the dispenser 10, the operator may, with the aid of the hand hole 76, elevate the entire base plate to the vertical position wherein it is shown in this view, thus rotating the dispenser frame 12 in a counter-clockwise direction and causing the peripheries of the two disks 52 and 54 to tractionally engage the floor or other supporting surface. In this position of the dispenser, the latter may be wheeled, utilizing the base plate 14 as a bail, in any desired direction to any desired location for subsequent use at such location or for storage.

The invention is not to be limited to the exact arrangement of parts shown in the accompanying drawings or described in this specification as various changes in the details of construct-ion may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is within the purview of the present invention to dispense with the brake pads 72 and the tray-like supporting base plate 14, and to rely upon the floor or other supporting surface for the braking action which is applied to the spool 16 when the latter is in its tilted condition. The brake pads 72, when employed, are themselves indirectly supported from the floor through the medium of the base plate and therefore, although actual engagement between the spool flanges and the floor does not take place, the flanges may be said to constructively have frictional engagement with the floor. Therefore, in the appended claims, the term constructive shall be construed to imply either an actual or an indirect braking action as defined above.

Having thus described the invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A strapping dispenser comprising in combination a substantially rigid tiltable frame, arcuate floor-engaging runners on said frame whereby the same may be positioned on a horizontal supporting foundation surface for fore and aft bodily rocking movement, a spool mounted on the frame for free rotation about a horizontal axis for receiving a coil of involutely wound strapping in coaxial relationship and having circular strapping retaining flanges, said frame, when a coil is received thereby, possessing a degree of unstable equilibrium and being movable between an inclined position wherein the spool flanges constructively and frictionally bear against said supporting surface and an erect position wherein the spool flanges are released by said supporting surface, the general direction of tilting movement of the frame coinciding with the tangential direction of emergence of the strapping from the coil when tension is applied to the free end of the strapping tending to pull the same forwardly of the dispenser.

2. A strapping dispenser as set forth in claim 1, and including, additionally, a bail pivoted to said frame in the vicinity of said arcuate runners and capable of being lifted manually so as to withdraw the runners from engagement with the foundation surface and cause the spool flanges to rest on such surface and afford tractional rolling support for the dispenser as a whole.

3. A strapping dispenser as set forth in claim 2, wherein the free end of the pivoted bail is adapted to engage the foundation surface, said dispenser including, additionally, a brake pad mounted on said ball and engageable by at least one of said spool flanges when the frame is in its inclined position.

4. A strapping dispenser as set forth in claim 1, wherein said frame includes a pair of spaced apart generally parallel side legs formed from tube stock and each of which is generally of L-shape configuration so as to provide a generally horizontal section, a generally vertical section and an interconnecting arcuate section, the latter sections constituting said arcuate runners, said spool being rotatably carried at the upper ends of said vertical sections.

5. A strapping dispenser 'as set forth in claim 4 wherein one of said vertical sections is formed with an upward extension which projects above the level of said spool, the upper end of said extension being turned laterally so as to overlie the coil and provide a guide arm for the strapping of said coil, the distal end of said arm being provided with a guide opening through which the strapping is ad-apted to extend loosely.

6. A strapping dispenser as set forth in claim 1, wherein said frame is formed from a single length of rod stock bent to generally U-shape configuration to provide a relatively long leg and a relatively short leg and an interconnecting bight portion, each of said legs being generally of L-shape configuration so as to provide a substantially horizontal section, a substantially vertical section and an interconnecting arcuate section, the arcuate sections constituting said arcuate floor-engaging runners, said spool being pivotally supported between the upper end of the vertical section of the short leg and a medial region of the vertical section of the long leg, the upper end of the long leg being formed with a laterally turned section providing a guide arm which overlies the spool, and means establishing a guide opening at the distal end of said guide arm for reception of the strapping of said coil therethrough.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,214,315 9/1940 A-damson 242 X 2,507,445 5/1950 Krueger 242-75.43 X 3,069,107 12/1962 Hirt 24275.43 X

FRANK J. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

N. L. MINTZ, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A STRAPPING DISPENSER COMPRISING IN COMBINATION A SUBSTANTIALLY RIGID TILTABLE FRAME, ARCUATE FLOOR-ENGAGING RUNNERS ON SAID FRAME WHEREBY THE SAME MAY BE POSITIONED ON A HORIZONTAL SUPPORTING FOUNDATION SURFACE FOR FORE AND AFT BODILY ROCKING MOVEMENT, A SPOOL MOUNTED ON THE FRAME FOR FREE ROTATION ABOUT A HORIZONTAL AXIS FOR RECEIVING A COIL OF INVOLUTELY WOUND STRAPPING IN COAXIAL RELATIONSHIP AND HAVING CIRCULAR STRAPPING RETAINING FLANGES, SAID FRAME, WHEN A COIL IS RECEIVED THEREBY, POSSESSING A DEGREE OF UNSTABLE EQUILIBRIUM AND BEING MOVABLE BETWEEN AN INCLINED POSITION WHEREIN THE SPOOL FLANGES CONSTRUCTIVELY AND FRICTIONALLY BEAR AGAINST SAID SUPPORTING SURFACE AND AN ERECT POSITION WHEREIN THE SPOOL FLANGES ARE RELEASED BY SAID SUPPORTING SURFACE, THE GENERAL DIRECTION OF TILTING MOVEMENT OF THE FRAME COINCIDING WITH THE TANGENTIAL DIRECTION OF EMERGENCE OF THE 